Move and win round-up: DDB, Ogilvy, Havas, Dentsu, Grey, Y&R, Ruder Finn and more

PEOPLE MOVES

DDB Group Hong Kong hired Marco Lam, most recently ECD at Mirum, as head of digital creative, and Marcin Brzezinski as creative director.

Octagon, the sports and entertainment marketing arm of Interpublic Group, appointed Ben Hartman as APAC MD, based in Sydney. Hartman promoted Singapore-based regional strategy director Adam Hodge to the newly created role of APAC head of strategy; hired Lizi Hamer, previously with Arcade, as Octagon’s regional creative director; and named Sydney-based client services director Andrew Clarke as agency director, Octagon Australia.

Ogilvy Sydney hired Sian Binder as head of art and Michael Ford for the newly created role of creative director of technology, both reporting to ECD Derek Green. Binder was previously with Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, while Ford joins from DT.

Grey Group Indonesia appointed Novie Andrini as head of strategy and digital. She joins Grey Group from Indosat OoredooBased in Jakarta, she will work closely with Ali Shabaz, chief creative officer.

The Core Agency, in Sydney, has appointed Simon Rich as strategy director. He joins after five years in the UK where he worked at agencies included M&C Saatchi, VCCP, JWT, Cheil Worldwide and Publicis. Before that he was director of planning at Grey Group and head of planning at FCB in Melbourne.

Ruder Finn promoted Shruti Das to the role of technology lead for Asia.

The beIN Media Group appointed Mike Kerr managing director, Asia. He will be based at the company’s Singapore office, reporting to Tom Keaveny, managing director, Asia Pacific. He joins from the Asian Tour, the men’s professional golf tour in Asia, where in he held the position of CEO since 2012. Prior to that he spent 12 years at ESPN STAR Sports, most recently in the role of vice president, affiliate and multimedia sales.

ACQUISITIONS

Dentsu Aegis Network acquired Australian performance-marketing agency Scorch, which will become Scorch iProspect. Scorch is headquartered in Melbourne with offices in Sydney and Manila and 50 employees. It provides digital consulting across services including search, social, content, UX and web development.

Always Marketing Services, which is majority-owned by J. Walter Thompson, acquired ePromode, a brand-activation agency in Malaysia. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, ePromode employs 150 people in 14 offices. It manages in and out-of-store brand activations, events and product roadshows, working with more than 2,000 in-store promoters.

WINS

Shell Retail (Singapore) appointed M&C Saatchi Singapore as its agency of record following a pitch. The agency is is tasked with bringing in fresh perspectives and insights to help the brand stand out in a highly competitive category.

Y&R Beijing was appointed to manage brand strategy development for Unicom VSENS, a subsidiary of China Unicom, and its sub-brands, after a pitch that took place in April.

MEC won Hong Kong Airlines’ media buying and planning duties following a pitch against undisclosed competitors. MEC will handle offline, digital, search, performance display and paid social media activities.

Havas Media International Singapore, was appointed as media agency of record for Longchamp following a competitive pitch. The agency said it was awarded the account on the basis of its strategic approach, which focused on driving innovation & digitalisation.

WPP AUNZ announced a partnership with the Australian Olympic Committee and its appointment as the official creative advertising agency for the Australian Olympic Team. WPP AUNZ will develop a national creative campaign aimed at increasing fan engagement and awareness of the team, both in the lead-up to and during the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Dentsu Aegis Network Singapore announced recent wins from Hitachi for its media planning and buying work, plus management of its Social Innovation Forum. Dentsu Möbius Media (DM2) and Dentsu Singapore were appointed respectively, with additional support from BandInterprise, a Dentsu Aegis specialist agency that provides full service end-to-end B2B marketing, channel & sales enablement services.